Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. Will once again re-up the concept of a “right to root access”, to prevent big corps from pulling this bs over and over again: https://medhir.com/blog/right-to-root-access
> Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. I’ve never agreed with this premise. I buy things that mostly meet my needs and desires in every other walk of life. I’m personally OK with extending this to computers as well.
Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
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Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#522This is really bad. I think that most people on HN will agree with that. The problem is that most normal people (HN is not normal - mostly for the better) don't even understand what sideloading is - let alone actually care . How can we fix this? (aside from making people care - apathy enables so many political problems in the current age, but it's such a huge problem that this definitely isn't going to be the impetus…
This certainly won't solve the problem, but I would at least like to banish the term "side load", which is a kind of Orwellian word that takes something everyone used to do all the time and makes it sound obscure and a bit nefarious. Maybe we, the tech literate, can start calling sideloading a "free install" or something. When asked, we can clarify that the 'free' stands for both freedom, and not paying middlemen 30%…
And while we are at it, "Application"
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#523This is really bad. I think that most people on HN will agree with that. The problem is that most normal people (HN is not normal - mostly for the better) don't even understand what sideloading is - let alone actually care . How can we fix this? (aside from making people care - apathy enables so many political problems in the current age, but it's such a huge problem that this definitely isn't going to be the impetus…
> How can we fix this? turn people onto sideloaded apps. show them Revanced and NewPipe, show them system-wide ad blockers and bloatware removal and every other thing Google doesn't want plebs to use. people don't care about "apk side-loading," they care about apps. hook them on forbidden apps, and they'll raise hell when they can't side-load them anymore.
It's like napster and torrenting. People dont care about the tech behind it - they care about the outcome.
It's just that the majority of normies dont even know it is possible (and didnt think an alternative exists to sideload).
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#524There is no turning back. Generations of developers will grow up thinking every form of communication and technology by virtue of existing needs a corporate groundskeeper. Government identification will be required for most things.
I don't really blame the companies, though. Unfortunately, it actually is the best means to keep a society of the masses functioning more safely online. What makes it all the more sour is that the very idea that things could be different is eroding away, too.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#525If your businesses idea doesn't work without you being evil, you deserve to go bankrupt. I perceive a tendency to assume it is necessary for a company like Google to maintain full control over our ecosystem to further our progress and maintain order. However, we should know by now that this isn't the case. You don't have to be evil to be useful. See GNOME, GrapheneOS, Steam, KDE, Wikipedia, Linux or Mozilla (previous…
Oh but they hate to hear this.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#526Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. Will once again re-up the concept of a “right to root access”, to prevent big corps from pulling this bs over and over again: https://medhir.com/blog/right-to-root-access
Without commoditized hardware, big capital will surely be in control of software.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#527Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#528Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#529Every day we stray farther from the premise that we should be allowed to install / modify software on the computers we own. Will once again re-up the concept of a “right to root access”, to prevent big corps from pulling this bs over and over again: https://medhir.com/blog/right-to-root-access
They’ll try again, with big business and governments cheering on them.
Re: Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android
#530The funny thing is Stallman started his fight like half a century ago and on regular days Hacker News shits on him eating something off of his foot and not being polished and diplomatic, and loves practical aspects of Corporate Open Source and gratis goodies and doesn't particularly care about Free Software. On this day suddenly folks come out of the woodwork advocating for half baked measures to achieve what Stallma…
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